Shorter Outages Are Good Business

Over the last decade, operating a nuclear power plant has undergone major changes. Deregulation has increased competition and operators have successfully streamlined their operations to reduce costs and maximize output. Increased attention has been paid to safe operations and the concept of extending the lifetime of the plants has precipitated in-depth analyses of components and upgrading systems.

In their efforts to improve plant operations, more and more utilities are forming partnering-type alliances. These long-term relationships allow both the operator and the vendor to focus on the same goals, provide experienced working teams that lead to continuous improvement in operations through better resource utilization and planning and result in a win/win situation for both parties and also cost reductions.

In particular, outage optimization has attracted increasing attention. A decade ago, it was not unusual for outages to last 40 to 60 days. Today, they range from the teens to the 20s, with some in Europe as low as 6 – 8 days. Obviously, the longer a plant can run without interruption, the higher the capacity factors and the greater the potential for higher revenues.

A new term - outage optimization - has been coined in recent years. As the name implies, it is intended to cover more than just managing an outage.

It involves both long and short-term planning and detailed analysis of every aspect of plant operation so that each scheduled outage accomplishes the most important tasks in a logical and carefully determined order while reducing the risk of unscheduled shutdowns. Reducing outage durations enhances plant availability, reduces costs and ensures that a utility remains competitive while enhancing quality and safety.